Faded Innocence
by Tokkalover
Summary: I will post the summary with the second chapter. I don't want to spoil anything. Post war Tokka Fic


Faded Innocence

**A/N: **Here's the first chapter of my new story! Enjoy, and Please review!

Faded Innocence

Chapter one

"I hate you!" Toph screamed as she slammed the door shut in her parent's faces. It was well into the night, and they had been arguing about when she was going to be married, as she had recently turned sixteen. This meant that she was now marrying age in the Earth Kingdom. As many times as she told them that Sokka was her boyfriend, they still insisted that she find someone "More suitable", as they so bluntly put it.

Toph stormed down the path, fuming mad. "They can't tell me to do anything I don't want to." she muttered angrily to herself as she neared the gate. As she reached for the chain, she heard a loud rustling in the trees above her. She curled her fingers inward, debating whether to investigate the source of the mysterious noise, but decided against it and metalbended the chain off of the gate. She was free. Toph smiled smugly for a moment, relishing her release from the grip her parents had on her, but her grin faded when she realized it was almost midnight and she had nowhere to stay. "Crud!" she exclaimed. The teenager certainly wasn't going to go back to her house, for that would be giving her mother and father exactly what they wanted, and that was definitely not an option. After a quick moment of thought, Toph went for plan B: Sokka's house.

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Sokka was fast asleep when a loud knocking noise woke him up. He rubbed his eyes and glanced out the window at the nearly full moon. Who in their right mind would be bothering him at this time of night? The 18 year old got out of bed and shuffled down the hallway, banging his arm on the stone doorframe in the process. "Ow." He mumbled, rubbing his arm. Sokka reached the door and opened it cautiously. There stood Toph, arms crossed over her chest and looking somewhat annoyed.

"I knocked for like, ten minutes. What where you doing?" She demanded, stepping past him and into the house.

"Uh…sleeping?" he replied, still half asleep. "What's up with _you_ tonight?"

"I got into a fight with my parents again." Toph informed him. She plopped down on his couch and sighed. "Can I stay here tonight?"

Sokka shrugged. "Sure. You know where the guestroom is, make yourself at home."

Toph grinned. "Thanks Snoozles, You're not bad." With that, she punched Sokka in the arm and made her way to the spare room.

Sokka grimaced and rubbed his now twice injured arm. "You're welcome."

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Morning came all too soon, and Sokka had to leave for his job in downtown Gaoling. He was a structural designer for the new buildings that were going up, and he also oversaw a portion of the political issues in the area. It wasn't really his type of job, but he was getting an enormous salary, and it allowed him to buy all the meat he wanted.

On his way out he paused outside the guestroom door to see if Toph was still asleep. Sure enough, he could hear soft snoring through the door. Sokka smiled and left the house to start to work. He saddled up his ostrich-horse (he had finally learned how to ride one) and headed to town.

It was about a half hour commute to downtown Gaoling from his house on the very outskirts of the city, and that was with his ostrich- horse at a quick trot. When he finally reached the city, he dismounted and led his ride to the stables. He then headed to work on foot. The city was unusually alive today, with hundreds of people along the streets huddling together and talking. Sokka wondered what was going on, so he made his way over to a group of vigorously chatting women.

"Hey, what's going on today?" He asked one of the women dresses in pale green robes.

The whole group turned to him with expressions of complete disbelief on their faces. "Haven't you heard? Lao and Poppy Bei-Fong were murdered last night!"

At this moment a torrent of thoughts came to Sokka's reeling mind. What would Toph do? How would she cope? These were her _parents,_ after all! Sokka whirled around and started running down the walkway, not caring that he was pushing people aside as he went. All he was concerned about was getting back to Toph. He paused for a moment, scanning the area. It was hard to find his way around all of the people. While he was stopped he overheard a conversation.

"Why would someone do something like that?" One man asked.

"I don't know, but they weren't after possessions, nothing was stolen." Another replied.

It was then that it hit Sokka - What if the murderer was after Toph? He couldn't let anything happen to her! He took off again, shoving aside anyone who got in his way.

He finally reached the stable, ignoring cries of protest from everyone he had bumped into.

The Distressed warrior got on the first Ostrich- horse he saw and slammed his heels into its sides. It took off at a Gallop, kicking dust up on the dust road. The trip seemed to take forever. He finally reached his house and burst in the door. What he saw horrified him. The house was a mess. The stone floor had been completely demolished, and the stone door frame to the guestroom had handprints in it. Sokka clambered over the huge piles of stone and into the spare room. Toph wasn't there.

He frantically looked through every room in the house, deperately calling Toph's name over and over again. She was nowhere to be found.

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The ride back to town was a blur to Sokka. He didn't remember getting on or off the ostrich- horse, all he recalled was asking the local authorities if they had seen Toph. Sokka would remember the answer of the officer forever

.

"Toph Bei-Fong has been placed under arrest for the murder of her parents."


End file.
